You walk, jog, warm up, work whole body and sometimes even do cardio training before beginning the core workout. But after exercising, you either head to shower or locker room to change and head home or office. What you ignore or are ignorant of is the routine you must follow after the workout. After a hardcore workout, you cannot immediately sit and do nothing. The way you treat your body, the minutes or hours after the training session has a great impact on your muscle soreness, muscle strength, muscle growth and hydration. The 5 top most important things which you must do after every workout are:

Calm Down

Workout does not end up with your last exercise and then a quick cleansing of just the face withthe best antifungal soap such as a tea tree oil soap and think that you have done enough for the day.You need to calm yourself down to bring your body into a stable position. Even if you just ran, you still need to do a light cardio for 5 minutes.

This helps bring the heart to its slow and steady pace. This also prevents you from feeling sick after a workout. An easy way to calm down is to walk on a treadmill for five minutes.

Stretch out the muscles

Another thing you must do to bring the body to it's original shape is stretching. Muscles contract naturally after a workout. Therefore, stretching after workout, prevents them from shrinking. This helps muscles rebuild, grow bigger and stronger and replenish the fluid levels of your body. To keep the fluid levels at an optimum, it is recommended that you drink 2-3 cups of any fluid within two hours of your exercise regime and then keep intaking water regularly, afterwards.

While you workout, you sweat a lot, and you need to refill the fluid you are losing through sweat. Sweating 2% of your body weight can have a negative effect on your body. To carry on exercising, you need to rehydrate. Proper hydration is important for lubricating the joints as well.

Refuel your Body

You don't feel like eating immediately after training but it is very important to fuel yourself up after an intense workout session. Along with burning calories and losing carbohydrate, you even tear your muscles up. So, your cells are wide open at this time and yelling for nutrients, and by eating or drinking a shake, you fasten up the the recovery process and maximize lean muscles. It is recommended that you must eat within 90 minutes of your workout. Foods containing complex carbohydrates and rich in proteins should be consumed. For example, a tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread.

Carbohydrate re-energize your body, while turning into calories slowly. So, you have enough time to burn calories before it turns into fat. Protein is important for repairing your muscles, so they grow stronger while your body rests until the next workout.

Take a shower...but rightfully

Everyone takes a shower after an intense workout, but they do not ascertain the right water temperatures and use of soaps. A 55 degrees cold plunge tub, if possible is the best thing after training. But, you must immerse your body in the combination of both hot and cold water. It increases blood flow and muscle recovery. Do not use harsh soaps. Use only the best natural soapto remove all the metabolic waste from your body.

In the hot and cold water mix, cold water in particular decreases post-workout inflammation and helps you avoid soreness. One thing to take note of is, if you take a shower in the gym itself, always use anti-fungal soaps such as atea tree oil soap or eucalyptus oil soapbecause gym showers are not very clean making you vulnerable to fungal infections especially, your feet. So, shower with caution.

So, next time, when you finish your workout, don't pack your gym bag and head back home. Remember, these post-workout essentials to improve your strength and maximize the efforts you put in for a daily workout regime.

Author Bio: Anne Pennington is a fitness coach and health writer. When she’s is not educating her readers with her writings, she’s most likely educating herself by reading her favorite stuff.